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Fallfest Convention

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Hosted by Star Army

RP International Relations Conference of YE 40

Taisho Yui, who had recently arrived, clarified "I believe the intent of requiring corporations to operate in their home nation's currency is to require the use of nationally-run currency exchanges and to block the use of alternate currencies like 'electronic coins' such as the Arcmark."

"On a subject related to having corporations under a national flag, the Star Army will also be requiring starships entering Yamataian territory to operate under the flag of a friendly nation. Increasingly we are seeing Kuvexian-aligned merchants, private military corporations, illegal alien salvagers, and colony ships full of highly-reproductive poverty-stricken bug-men attempting to enter our space. It is the Star Army's suggestion that all of our nations imminently begin requiring a visa, passport, or similar permit to enter our nations, and some sort of effective vetting process to ensure people entering our space are not working with or for our enemies. Similarly, ships of independent entities should not be able to obtain national flag status for their ships and their ships should not be permitted in our space."

Yui looked at Alex but didn't address him specifically. She knew USO would be screwed by some of these policies if it was unable to be recognized as a nation, but that wasn't something she considered a problem for Yamatai.
 
Mark spoke up now, "With all due respect, that still doesn't answer our question ma'am. If these policies go into effect, since we have been denied to be recognized as a nation. You have effectively cut us off from all other territories. You're isolating us."
 
"Correct," Yui agreed. She smiled in wicked amusement. It didn't take a genius to see that this cat was playing with her prey. People said that Yui was a product of her brutal upbringing as a trained killer and talking to her gave one a sense that she never fully trusted anyone and that saying the wrong thing to her would be fatal. They weren't wrong.

Now that she implicitly yet effectively dropped the gauntlet and challenged the USO's status as a nation and their right to even be here, she simply waited for Mark and Alex to pick up what she was putting down here, and make their case for the USO as a nation at the appropriate time.
 
Alex sighed. He had known this topic would have come up some time, but he had hoped that it would have gone more smoothly. One thing he had learned early on with his interactions with Uso was that sometimes it was best to be blunt, and that trying to avoid your problems always ended up screwing you over later on.

He took a deep breath before speaking, looking Yui dead in the eyes. Backing down now would only give her what she wants, but he still needed to be respectful. "I can see that I'm going to have to address this sooner rather than later. The USO won't be able to contribute to the discussions here, or to the international community in its current state." He now looked around the room. Surely he must have seemed absurd, a veritable child speaking to a room full of seasoned diplomats and several warriors.

"I propose the recognition, by this body of nations, of the USO as a sovereign nation. My grounds for this proposal are that the USO regulates and protects the regions of space around the planets 188604 and B7R604, serving as a government for those areas."
 
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Vas'Sumera, the Neshaten Queen, and a Daur who most might mistake for a young child, sat quietly in her seat, wearing her official outfit - her hands clasped in her hands, her eyes closed, but her ears none the less working - as they twitched ever so slightly, her tail movingly slowly side to side. She was about to speak up in regards to the treaty when someone else had spoken, talking about their people and the prospect of becoming a nation. Talk about a lack of respect, she thought, one eye slowly opened and stared directly at Alex.

The Queen rose and waved a hand in the air, causing a display to appear in front of her. "Any treaties, or laws, voted on and approved in this conference will not go into effect within the Kingdom unless also approved by the citizenry. This is a safe-guard to protect my Kingdom from outside influence, to ensure that nothing violates our constitution. As it stands, currently, this document is vague. However, any .... what do you call them? Corporations? Companies? In the Kingdom, we refer to them as Trade Families, regardless, they are already required by law to trade in our currency and none other. Any and all trade families are already required to be under the Citizens Oversight Commitee, which further means that they are not independent, we do grant exceptions to this but those are quite rare Third, any trade family that does business in the Kingdom abides by our laws, and does not have the authority to create policies that go against them." She stopped for a moment, it was probably winded, and she was pretty certain that most of the delegates probably didn't care but this was meant to lead to her next spoken moment.

"This all leads to this point: any trade family, or corporation or company, that wishes to become its own nation should be placed under another nation *first* to ensure that they poss no threat to anyone else. The fact this Uso company owns their own system, outside of the purview of other nations, makes them a threat to my Kingdom since there are no means to ensure that they are not planning anything against my people," she cast a look at Alex. "before we can even remotely consider Uso to be a nation, we'd need proof that they do not poss a threat to other nations, that they are not gearing up for any kind of a war with their neighbors, that they have a stable economy, a stable government, this is information that we'd need in order to think this over. Otherwise, if the Uso Delegate can't provide this proof, then I say we return to the discussions of this document," she waved her hand at the display, showing once again the document on question.

(Edit: Realized that her showing a ship would actually not work since she wouldn't have that kind of information right now, editted out)
 
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The Senatorial Legate returned Sachiko’s gracious words with another nod and a bow of her own - one that, Karael noted with a trace of amusement, would have probably thrown Barachiel and the rest of those elderly anti-Yamatai followers of his into apoplectic fits with the amount of respect and gratitude it demonstrated towards a representative of the “enemy” - then patiently waited for her counterparts to voice their opinions.

The representative of the Iromakuanhe seemingly pondered the matter for a moment then opted to remain silent, which made logical sense given the nature of the Astral Commonwealth’s effectively self-sufficient economy and the Iromakuanhe's history with the Star Empire; similarly, the Nepleslian Premier's reply was understandable - for even the slightest amount of control over the sprawling mess that was the Imperium's private sector would undoubtedly benefit the Nepleslian government immensely. The pause that then followed implied that none of the other delegates in attendance were willing to contest Yamatai's stance on the manner - expected, given the latter's economic and martial dominance of the Celestial Sector - or were reserving their opposition for a more private venue; regardless of the reason, however, the room was silent for a moment too long - thus Yamatai's elven representative proceeded to go ahead and propose a treaty.

Karael read the treaty quite carefully, the document's simple terms a refreshing break from the nearly-incomprehensible walls of legalese that were most Elysian laws - and she, similar to Kohaku, also found the terms to be a bit...lacking. Although she concurred - mentally, not visibly, of course - with the first and third points her Hidden Sun Clan counterpart raised, the Elysian disagreed believe that operating with one's home currency would hinder international trade in any fashion; after all, every nation in the Celestial Sector accepted each other's currency, except in the case of the over-glorified and ludicrously over-inflated welfare coupon known as the ArcMark. The Elysian was about to voice her views...

...then was denied the chance by the obviously-uncertain voice emanating from the youthful delegate seated adjacent to her. Fortunately for the speaker, the tranquil atmosphere of the International Relations Conference was a far cry from the rancorous halls of the Elysian Senate, where someone with his uncertainty would have been practically laughed out the door by someone like that demon Barachiel; unfortunately for the speaker, however, his uncertain tone lent little of the weight his words so desperately needed, as evidenced when another demon (albeit one Karael respected, tolerated, perhaps even accomodated) promptly tore him to shreds.

It wasn't that the Patrician found fault in what the USO representative was saying, as were she in his place she would have said the same exact thing; rather, it was that, well, she also agreed with what the Taisho (more accurately, the Taisho) was saying - and with the weight of a full-scale war looming upon the horizon alongside Elysia's rapidly-growing domestic crises, Karael knew which side her proverbial bread was buttered on. The more the Senator thought about it, in fact, the more she found herself in agreement with Yui, as abhorrent as the thought would've been a few decades prior, given that the rumors that Karael had heard from a certain Elysian CEO had indicated that the Star Organization was displaying signs of economic aggressiveness, political instability, military aggressiveness, economic instability, and general hostility towards the Star Empire as a whole, as respectively evidenced by the fraudulently-valued ArcMark, the apparent mass desertion by military forces, the growing signs of conflict occurring between the forces of USO and other independent nations, the collapse of their banking system that had occurred earlier in the year, and the brazen attempt at publicly arresting a serving member of the Star Army while on a peaceful fact-finding mission.

All in all, Uso's Star Organization was appearing to be little more than a dangerously-unstable rogue state with an economy on the brink of failure, a military with little to no faith in its political superiors, and a foreign policy of aggression toward its neighbors, thus it was logically something that - in addition to the the Kuvexian-aligned merchants, private military corporations, illegal alien salvagers, and colony ships full of highly-reproductive poverty-stricken bug-men - posed a threat to the safety of the security of the Elysian Celestial Empire and the Celestial Sector as a whole.

The unknown USO representative's petulant response to Yui's harsh yet logical proposals (which, Karael noted, attacked the Taisho's points instead of actually addressing them) only served to reinforce the Elysian's beliefs, and, as the first representative spoke (Alen, was it?), caused her to feel a pang of sympathy (and a not-insignificant amount of respect) for him, given that his body language, reluctant sigh, and overall tone suggested that he had probably drawn the same conclusions as the Patrician - and it took a considerable amount of courage to stare down what was arguably the most powerful individual in the Celestial Sector.

Regardless, though, Queen Vas'Sumera raised a valid point - and, more importantly, provided an opening for the calmly-featured Patrician to finally get a word in. "We of the Elysian Celestial Empire concur with the first and third points our esteemed compatriots representing the Poku Saeruo Degonjo raised, however, we politely disagree with the second point. With the exception of the dubiously-valued welfare voucher known as the "ArcMark," all of the currencies employed by the factions represented here today are universally accepted throughout the Kikyo Sector - thus we see no purpose in requiring corporations to conduct international transactions with foreign currency. We furthermore agree wholeheartedly with the policies Taisho Yui has proposed and will recommend their adoption by the Celestial Empire; lastly, we are of the same mind as Queen Vas'Sumera: if the representatives of this 'Uso's Star Organization' cannot supply the evidence requested of them, then we propose that we return to discussing the treaty Representative Sachiko has graciously proposed."
 
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Iemochi Feyani, Provost Marshal of the Star Army of Yamatai listened intently from her designated seat. She was, in fact, the only non-diplomat allowed into the most protected area, where the delegates now talked - by virtue of her role as head of security. It was an interesting discussion for sure and one there would likely be subject to internal conversation within the SAOY admiralty. The platinum-blonde Shosho was more focused on how the potential legislation would change her own duties and stretch the ranks of the policing agencies.

While part of her station was to advise the Commander on internal security matters, her true duty was to enforce the Taisho of Taishos' ruling across the whole Star Army. If the Yamatai Security Agency requested Star Army ships to assist, it might put more undue strain on the war effort. A cunning move from the enemy. Now it was their move, Feyani wondered if it was going to get to the point that an official fleet would have to be formed to help to organise the combined SAOY-YSA effort. She herself had already spoken to the Taisho after having reports of detaining several unwanted vessels both at the warzone borders under de facto SAOY control and the regular patrolling of international space.
 
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Anslen Volontany was the Senator from Essia, and its most important diplomat. He was tall, just over seven feet, but in what might be considered to be a sitting position, he appeared shorter. His black hair had large streaks of grey emerging from the temples. So far, he had been silent, listening to what was being said before speaking himself. He had been invited due to Essia's deep connections to nations outside of Yamatai both attending and not attending the international relations conference, Essia was where the tail hit the dirt when it came to many international relations. That meant whatever was decided here had the potential to impact Essia deeply.

He listened carefully to what had been said by the various attendees. He had done his homework when it came to each of them, particularly the USO. He found USO to be a fascinating experiment. That they were even here was a sign that they were succeeding. Perhaps not at the pace that they wanted, but succeeding none the less. Vas'Sumera's idea about USO having to show it wasn't a threat seemed more then slightly nieve to him. National sovereignty was defined by the ability to defend their own territory which also meant they could threaten others. 'One man's knife.' He thought to himself. More importantly, if they wanted stability, then that would be better accommodated by recognizing the USO and opening trade with them rather then isolating them from the international community.

He wrote on his tablet, working with the proposal to find something he thought would benefit everyone. However, he wanted them to seem to come from a consensus rather than from him pushing the discussion where Essia needed it to go. So he stood to speak.

"With the objections that have been raised, with regard to The Poku Saeruo Degonjo's first objection and the Elysian Celestial Empire concured with, it may be better to have it read as 'host nation' rather then 'home nation.' With regard to their second objection, which the Elysian Celestial Empire suggests a diffrent solution to, a compromise may be found in leaving exactly what currency transactions are done in up to the individual corperation so long as they use their home nation's currency or anouther frequently used currency as a unit of account. With regard to their third objection which the Elysian Celestial Empire concured with, the precise means of enforcement are left up to the individual nations. There are natural consequences from the reading of the text of the proposed treaty. Buisnesses that do not have a home nation declared are treated as any other illegal enterprise. By saying that we will enforce that host nation laws are followed in the host nation, the most natural consequence is extradition." Anslen said in his deep voice.

Anslen hit a button to display a modified version of the proposed treaty. "I believe we can simplify the treaty to the following points. First, 'Businesses must declare a home nation that they operate out of.' Second, 'Businesses must follow the laws of the host nations that they are operating in.' This naturally would include licensing requirements. Third, 'Businesses must use their home currency or anouther frequently used currency as a unit of account.' This would counter the use of artifically manipulated psudo-currency by requiring accounting of assets using a frequently used currency." Anslen suggested.
 
The Iromakuanhe delegate seemed to take what everyone was saying with a thoughtful look. The Commonwealth had been on edge with this latest war. News being as plentiful as it was had been under scrutiny from a few independent outlets within the greater Kikyo Sector. Those of rank and status within the Commonwealth had been laying plans, contingencies if faced with war and even invasion since word had reached the distant Iruotl system. Most of the points the Taisho brought to the table were simple in implementation. Some of which the House of Speakers had put forth as an added measure of security should anything go amiss. His thoughts were intruded upon with the voice of the Uso's Star Organization's delegate.

The High Guardian shifted in his seat. If this had been brought before the Speakers or even the Conclave, the matter of the 'USO' would have been discussed over a matter of months. And likely would have disagreed on their right to be considered a sovereign nation given how things within its borders had been progressing. His heart went out to the peoples of the 'USO' and his hopes for their newborn government would do well by them.

Hands steepling as he leaned forward, the silvery and golden metals of his attire glimmered all the more with such a minor shift in position. "We within the Astral Commonwealth have heard of this 'USO'," he gestured with one scarred hand toward Alex, his bio-luminescent grey eyes fell upon the young man. There was no judgement there. Just mild curiosity. "And I am inclined to agree with my counterparts among the Elysian and Neshaten delegates in regard to the points they have raised. There is much to prove before Uso's Star Organization could be recognized as such. Not just in its foreign policy," he explained with a gesture toward the Queen.

"Your government is new. Your economy is still in its infancy as I believe; it had also faced a financial crisis and thus teetered on the edge of economic collapse." spreading his hands had the additional benefit of rustling his cape just a little. "Can you also provide proof of the socio-economic stability of 'USO'?"
 
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Kohaku listened to the divergent path the discussions were taking. This kind of nonsense had derailed previous Conferences.

"My fellow delegates and honored allies. It would seem that we now have two distinct points being discussed. The first being the proposed treaty with respect to businesses operating within the sector. The second is a completely irrelevant to the first discussion. The discussion regarding if the USO is a nation or not is outside of the first. But the discussion about whether or not USO is a nation or not, brings the need for a clear and concise definition of what is a Nation.

In the many years we have been in this region of space, we have seen nations come and go, Some of the key aspects as we of the clan see that define a nation are as follows.
  1. Have a commonality of popular thought, a consensus of the majority that make them unique to other nations. Such an example would be the now defunct United Outer Colonies who chose to break from Yamatai and forge their own path.
  2. Have a government with the power to make laws and enforce them through out their sphere of influence.
  3. Provide an infrastructure to provide a standard of living for its citizenry.
  4. Control a given area of space and have the means to defend their territory.
  5. Display the ability to sustain their existence.
She paused and took a brief drink from her cup.

"I suggest that we either temporarily table the Business Treaty, and focus on the definition of what constitutes a nation. At which point we can consider if the USO is a nation or just a commercial entity. Then we can turn to the matter of the Treaty proposed."
 
Anslen nodded considering for a moment. Kohaku was right and USO seemed currently to be what everyone wanted to talk about. "I agree, we should keep our attention focused on one matter at a time. I'll second the motion."
 
Alex rubbed tapped his fingers for a moment. The Hidden Sun Clan representative brought up good points, but a couple of them needed addressing.

"I agree with the idea of commonality of popular thought, and while from the outside it might seem like the USO is nothing but disparate groups each doing their own thing, I'd argue that this is the same structure as many other nations here, including Yamatai itself."
 
Sachiko slid a hand across the volumetric screen and the compounded business treaty documents that she had created based off of input and what had been sent to the podium's interface were set aside electronically. She folded her hands over the stand as it regained its full transparency. The representative's soft, rose pink lips opened and her canines could be seen clenched together as she inhaled, then her pearly teeth spread and she spoke.

"Young men, you have pointed a finger away from yourself and at others. This is your time to tell us not who we are, but who you are."
 
Alex flinched. "My point was only that the USO is not so different from many of the nations here. Just as Yamatai has many groups of its military and civil services, each serving separate missions, so do the separate groups within the USO interact in a similar manner. Each group within it serves the whole in order to better it."

"The commonality of thought is not that of a single mission, but of a desire for constant improvement in every aspect of life."
 
The silvery-haired Elf looked with her full spectrum eyes and said, "If you are so similar in nature to us, then your leader may choose to become a nation-state within the borders of a declared nation. That is a decision your leadership has available to them, with the consent of the parent nation's respective parties."
 
Vas'Sumera was quiet, to an outsider it might appear that she was frustrated, her tail was moving from side to side and her ears were flat against her head: it was a feign though. In reality she was thinking hard about what was being discussed and trying to figure out a means of responding to all of this, in the back of her mind she wondered how an conference could decide whether or not someone else was a nation, as it really wasn't anyone business to make that kind of a decision for another group. Of course, she also knew that the reason this was brought up is because in doing this could garner additional protections or even trade for someone who wasn't recognized before.

To think that this is what we are discussing, I'm surprised this rep didn't approach us individually and try to win our support. That would've been easier I think, instead of bringing it up in a discussion that really had nothing to do with them, she tapped a finger on the table, not enough for it to make a sound, but enough that certain individuals, such as Kohaku, might take notice.

While waiting to see what the other would say, she took out a datapad and looked at the information that was on it. It was in privacy mode, which meant that no one would be able to read it unless they were standing directly over her. Information related to the Uso's economic status, government, and what-not gathered by Or'ion. Of course she wasn't stupid, she knew that she didn't have all of the details, that the intelligence committee was naturally leaving some things out. That's them, they have most likely found something that they can use against them at some point and don't want me to know about it, since I could inadvertently spoil it, it didn't faze her at all, she understood the importance of security. After all, I'm sure many of the reps here have information on my Kingdom, probably even things they shouldn't know...

She returned her gaze to the table, waiting for her chance to speak up again.
 
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